Battling the Marine Debris Blues (1 CEU)Featuring Jenna Jambeck

Huge amounts of metals, rubber, paper, textiles, derelict fishing gear, vessels, and other lost or discarded items like single-use plastics enter the marine environment every day, making marine debris one of the most widespread pollution problems.Learn how product stewardship by the plastics industry, along with other management approaches like trash interception, can help reduce—and maybe someday eliminate—the plastics polluting the ocean and other waterways.

Who should attend: Public works officials, environmental advocates, engineers and scientists.

By attending this session, you will:

Understand the marine litter problem

Become aware of policies and legislation—what works, what doesn’t

Be ready to take action in your community to prevent marine litter

Speakers

Jenna Jambeck, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of Georgia

Dr. Jenna Jambeck is an Associate Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA). She has been conducting research on solid waste issues for 20 years with related projects on marine debris since 2001. She also specializes in global waste management issues and plastic contamination. Her work on plastic waste inputs into the ocean has been widely recognized by the global community and translated into policy discussions by the Global Ocean Commission, in testimony to U.S. Congress, G7, G20, and the United Nations Environment program. She has won awards for her teaching and research in the College of Engineering and the UGA Creative Research Medal, as well as a Public Service and Outreach Fellowship for 2016–2017. In 2014 she sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with 13 other women in XXpedition to sample land and open ocean plastic and encourage women to enter STEM disciplines. This trip translated into extensive outreach on this issue locally in K–12 schools and around the globe at speaking events. She is co-developer of the mobile app Marine Debris Tracker, a tool that continues to facilitate a growing global citizen science initiative. The app and citizen science program has documented the location of over one million litter and marine debris items removed from our environment throughout the world.

Dominic Hogg, Founding Director, Eunomia Research & Consulting

Dr. Dominic Hogg is Chairman of Eunomia Research & Consulting, which he established in 2001. He leads the company’s work on policy and strategy in respect to waste management, resource efficiency and the circular economy—areas where he has a reputation for thought leadership. His work at a pan-European level has included helping to shape the revisions to the main waste directives in the European Union, supporting the development of the EU plastics strategy, and developing the impact assessment for a directive on single-use plastics. Dr. Hogg recently led work for MfE in New Zealand, helping to develop a routemap for a circular economy, and has also developed a roadmap for a circular economy in London. He has just completed work for WRAP (Wales) on a plastics roadmap. Dr. Hogg also has considerable expertise in designing deposit refund schemes, having worked on developing schemes in Scotland, Spain, and Malta, and with experience also in North America. He is currently working on a plan to reduce plastic pollution in a major river in Indonesia.

Keith Christman is Managing Director of Plastic Markets at the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Plastics Division where he oversees the council’s Marine Debris, Packaging, Building and Construction, Automotive and other market team advocacy. He is also chairman of the industry’s Global Action Team, leading the implementation of the Declaration of the Global Plastics Associations for Solutions on Marine Litter. As part of the Declaration, over 350 projects addressing marine litter have been implemented since 2011 by over 75 plastic associations in more than 40 countries.

As director of market transformation and development for the TRUE Zero Waste Certification, Stephanie Barger is responsible for the growth and development of the TRUE program. Ms. Barger helped launch TRUE, which is owned and administered by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) in 2017. GBCI is the premier organization independently recognizing excellence in green business industry performance and practice globally and administers all LEED™ green building certifications. TRUE was acquired by GBCI in 2016 and was previously known as U.S. Zero Waste Business Council, which Ms. Barger formed in January 2012. She received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from San Diego State University. In her spare time, Ms. Barger raises guide dog puppies for the blind and advocates for humane treatment of all creatures great and small. She lives in Penryn California.